Reflection/Exhortation 9: Ricinus Communis (30.07.2020)
Ricinus Communis by Jacob Ting (Youth Ministry)
It was the evening of 13th July 2020, 9:23pm.
As I was watching the news, an SMS notification chimed on my mobile phone. I clicked on the message, it was an OTP (One Time Pin) from the bank which I have a credit card with. The message indicated that I had just performed a transaction (RM719.00) and the OTP was to enable me to complete the transaction. Panicked (as I was not performing any credit card transaction at all during that time), I called the bank’s 24-hour telebanking toll free line and told them what had just transpired. The customer service representative advised me to have the card blocked and cancelled as apparently, it had been compromised and abused.
After putting down the phone, I was relieved that no charges were made to my card and no transaction was incurred. But then of course, I have to take the trouble of notifying all the merchants (utility companies, insurance companies, telcos, media service providers etc) which are tied to the autopay instructions of this credit card as I have been using the card for more than 15 years.
Fast enough, less than a week later, I received my new credit card from this bank. When I opened the envelope and looked at the 16-digits number on the card (and the card looking at me as well I presume), we couldn’t recognize each other. I felt odd and a sense of sadness swept through me. That was because my “ex” (the old credit card) had been with me for nearly two decades and we have spent so much fun and exciting moments together, swiping away (of course it came with the price of staring in disbelieve on the statement over some excess spending on certain months). I could easily “recite” the 16-digit numbers on the card forward and backward (plus the CVV numbers) and I always boasted (though it’s really nothing to boast about) to my wife about my ability of remembering the numbers whenever she dug through her purse, looking for her credit card just to see the 16-digit when she was filling forms or doing whatsoever transactions that required the details of the card.
I missed my old credit card (the card expired in April this year and I was just being issued a nice, new card with the same, familiar account number), I missed the sense of familiarity, and I missed the way I used the card with confidence and at ease. To sum it up, I missed the old days. I felt odd because of the changes (though small) and I felt equally odd with the new account number which I’m not familiar with. Changes make us insecure. They make us frustrated at times especially when the turn of events does not go according to what we have planned or expected (sounds familiar? Yup, the pandemic is one of those instances).
Then the Holy Spirit prompted me with Jonah 4:6 “Then the Lord God provided a vine (leafy plant) and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant” (In KJV, the leafy plant is a gourd, Mandarin Bible described it as 菎麻, of which the scientific name is Ricinus Communis). The leafy plant was grown overnight by God, to provide shelter for Jonah under the scorching hot sun, and when God sent a worm to destroy it, the reaction of Jonah was somehow ………. childish!
Then I looked at myself, I’m no different from Jonah while lamenting on my “ex”. What God says to Jonah in v.10, He is saying to me as well, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight”. God says further in v.11 “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”
Then on 20th July 2020, I finally took the step forward (after much spiritual struggle) in completing the registration process of XEE 2020 by making the payment to join the upcoming training and equipping (thanks also to sister Noreen’s encouragement). I must admit that I’m not joining without any apprehension, but I thank God for providing me with two prayer partners to pray and uphold me throughout the journey of equipping. Pray that I would persevere and be humble and let God mold me more into His image. After all, a willing heart is what God is looking at.
Changes is inevitable and the looming pandemic serves as a wake-up call to all (especially the believers) that nothing lasts except God and His Words. Matthew 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.
So, what is the temporal Ricinus Communis which is tough for you to let go?
